The Chronicles of Enguerrand de Monstrelet: Containing an Account of the ...

enumerate, article by article, how he has committed human high treason in the four degrees above stated, and shall consequently divide my minor into four heads. “Respecting the first charge I make, of his having committed high treason in the first degree,_that is, when the offence has been done directly against the person of the king, it may be done two ways: the first by imagining and practising the death and destruction of the prince, his sovereign lord, which may be divided into several heads, but I shall content myself with three. “The first by practising the death of the prince by sorcery, charms, and witchcraft; the second, by poisons, venoms, and intoxication; the third, by killing or causing the prince to be killed by arms, water, fire, and other violent injections. “That he is guilty of the first charge I prove thus: To cause the king our lord to die of a disorder so languishing, and so slow, that no one should divine the cause of it, by dint of money, he bribed four persons, one of whom was an apostate monk, the others, a knight, an esquire, and a varlet, to whom he gave his own sword, his dagger, and a ring, for them to consecrate to, or, more properly speaking, to make use of, in the name of the devils. As such-like sorceries can only be performed in solitude, and far from the world, these persons took up their abode for many days in the tower of Mont-Jay, near Laigny-sur-Marne. The aforesaid apostate monk, who was the principal in this diabolical work, made there several invocations to the devil, and at different times, the whole of which took place between Easter and Ascension-day; and one grand invocation on a Sunday, very early and before sun-rise, on a mountain near to the tower of Mont-jay. “The monk performed many superstitious acts near a bush, with invocations to the devil; and while doing these, he stripped himself naked to his shirt, and kneeled down: he then stuck the points of the sword and dagger into the ground, and placed the ring near them. Having uttered many invocations to the devils, two of them appeared to him, in the shape of two men, clothed in brownish green, one of whom was called Hermias, and the other Estramain. He paid them such honours and reverence as were due to God our Saviour, after which he withdrew behind the bush. The devil who had come for the ring took it and vanished; but he who was come for the sword and dagger remained,—but afterwards, having seized them, he also vanished. The monk, shortly after, came to where the devils had been, and found the sword and dagger lying flat on the ground, the sword having the point broken,--but he saw the point among some powder, where the devil had laid it. Having waited for half an hour, the other devil returned, and gave him the ring, which to the sight was of the colour of red, nearly scarlet, and said to him, ‘Thou wilt put it into the mouth of a dead man, in the manner thou knowest, and then he vanished. The monk obeyed his instructions, thinking to burn the king our lord, but through the providence of God, and the aid of those most excellent ladies the duchesses of Berry and Burgundy, who were present, he escaped. “I shall next show that the duke of Orleans was guilty of the crime of high treason in the first degree, by the alliances he contracted contrary to the interest of the king and kingdom. It is a fact, that when the king our lord and king Richard of England were firmly united in friendship, by the marriage of Richard with the eldest princess of France, king Richard would, at any risk, speak to the king our lord respecting his health; and when they were together, he told him, that the infirmity he was subject to was caused by means used by the dukes of Orleans and of Milan, and entreated him, by the love of God, to be on his guard against them. The king, after this conversation, conceived so great a hatred against the duke of Milan, and not without cause, that the herald who bore his arms dared not appear in his presence. When this came to the ears of the duke of Orleans, he took a mortal dislike to king Richard, and inquired who was the greatest enemy he had in this world. He soon learnt that it was Henry of Lancaster, to whom he made advances, and at length concluded an alliance with him, in order to destroy the king, and to strengthen himself as much as possible, to arrive at his damnable ends. “The duke of Orleans and Henry of Lancaster agreed mutually to labour and assist each other to accomplish the deaths of the two kings, that they might obtain the crowns of France and England that of France for Louis d'Orleans, and that of England for Henry ot
Lancaster. Henry succeeded in his attempt, but, thank God the duke of Orleans has failed. And to confirm the truth of this alliance, the duke of Orleans has ever been favourable to the English, and has assisted Henry with all his power, and particularly in regard to the siege of the castle of Bordes, when he sent to the garrison not to surrender it to the French, for that he would hinder the success of the siege, and afford them sufficient succour when there should be need of it. He also prevented many expeditions from taking place, which were intended against the English. “Thus he proved himself a tyrant and disloyal to his prince and to the welfare of the kingdom, and cominitted high treason of the first degree, in a second manner. In confirmation of this, a fact has just struck me which I will relate to you. At the time when king Richard was a prisoner, and it was the intention of Henry to have him put to death, some of the English lords said to him, that great danger might ensue from the indignation of the French. Henry replied, they need not have any fears on that head, for he had a powerful friend in France, to whom he had allied himself, namely, the duke of Orleans, brother to the king, who would not, for any attempt that might be made on king Richard, suffer the French to attack the English ; and to convince them, he made them read the letters that had passed, and the articles of the treaty concluded between them. It appears then, that the duke of Orleans has, in various ways, committed high treason of the first degree. I shall now finish this article of my minor, although there be many other very horrible crimes perpetrated by the duke of Orleans of the first degree of high treason, which my lord of Burgundy reserves to charge him with at a proper opportunity, should there be a necessity for it. “I proceed to the second article of my minor, wherein I shall charge the duke of Orleans with being guilty of the crime of high treason, not only in the first, but also in the second degree, which consists in offending the king in the person of the queen his wife. It is a fact, that about four years after the king was attacked by his unfortunate disorder, the profligate duke of Orleans never ceased imagining how he could succeed in his wicked and damnable designs, and thought that if he could prevail on the queen to quit the kingdom with her children, he would the more readily obtain his object. With this intent, he falsely informed her, that the king was very indignant against her, and advised her, as she regarded her own life and the lives of her children, to quit the presence of the king and to leave the country. He offered to conduct her and them to the duchy of Luxembourg (thinking that when there he could do with them as he pleased), and promised the queen that he would there safely guard her and her children. He added, that should the king recover from his frenzy, and should he perceive that he was no longer angry with her, and that she might safely return, which he engaged to urge to the king with all his power, he would re-conduct her and her children to his majesty. And in case the king should not have changed his opinion concerning her, he would maintain her according to her rank in the duchy of Luxembourg, were any of the nobles, or even the king or others, to visit her. The better to colour his wicked designs, he gave the queen to understand that this project must be kept secret, and executed with much caution, lest she and her family should be stopped on the road to Luxembourg. He advised her to undertake a pilgrimage with her children to St. Fiacre, and thence to Our Lady at Liesse, whence he would escort her to Luxembourg, and give her such an establishment as should be suitable for her and her children's rank, until the present dispositions of the king should be changed. He frequently pressed the queen on this subject, using nearly the words I have related, all tending to put the queen and her children in his power to do with them as he pleased. They certainly were in great danger; and it would have increased, if some worthy persons, real friends to the queen, had not informed her that all she had heard was false, which made her alter her intentions the moment she discovered the wicked and damnable designs of the duke of Orleans. She determined, in consequence, not to undertake this journey.—Thus concludes the second article of my minor, which plainly proves the late duke of Orleans guilty of high treason against the person of the queen of France. “I shall now show, that the duke of Orleans has been guilty of high treason in the third degree, by three different crimes: the first, by poisons and intoxications; the second, by fallacious deceptions; the third, by his false representations to the pope.

“In regard to my first charge, I declare the late duke of Orleans guilty of intending the death of the late dauphin by means of a poisoned apple which was given to a child, with orders to offer it to my lord the late dauphin, and to none other, which was done. It chanced as he was carrying this apple, he passed through the gardens of the hotel de St. Pol, where he met the nurse to the children of the duke of Orleans, carrying one of them in her ams. The apple seemed so beautiful that she bade the child give it to her, that she might present it to the infant she was carrying, but he said he would not give it to any one but my lord the dauphin. Seeing the boy so obstinate, the nurse took the apple from him by force and gave it her child to eat, who soon after fell sick and died. I here ask one question. This innocent died of the poisoned apple: ought the boy who brought it, or the nurse who gave it the child, be punished ? I reply, No, neither of them ; but the crime must be attributed to those who poisoned it, or caused it to be carried. “In regard to my second charge, of fallacious deceptions, I have already touched upon them, in his treacherous conduct and advice to the queen, to quit the kingdom for the duchy of Luxembourg. “As to my third charge, it is well known that the duke of Orleans, persevering in his wicked designs, has personally, and by ambassadors, often practised with the pope to deprive the king of his crown and kingdom. To succeed in this damnable conspiracy, he falsely and wickedly charged the king with crimes affecting his royal progeny, which he gave the pope to understand were such as required him to declare the king and his posterity unworthy to hold or succeed to the crown of France. He also requested the pope to grant absolution to all who should act contrary to the oath of fidelity they had been constrained to take to the king, and to declare the next of his blood the successor to the crown and government of France. The better to secure the pope in his interests, he has always favoured and supported him by divers ways, as is apparent from his conduct, in the cession and restitution of the monies from the hospital of Toulouse. “Thus the third article of my minor is made clear, notwithstanding there are very many other horrible crimes of high treason in the third degree, committed by the late duke of Orleans, unnoticed, which my lord of Burgundy has reserved to himself, to bring forward or not as he may see occasion. “I now come to the fourth article of my minor, which is, that the late duke of Orleans has been guilty of high treason in the fourth degree, namely, of offending against the public welfare. “Although I have before noticed his alliance with the enemies of the realm, which is acting positively against the public good, I shall show how he has otherwise committed this crime. In the first place, by keeping men-at-arms in different parts of the realm, who did nothing but plunder the people, rob all travellers, and force women. He moreover placed their captains in the strongest castles, and at all the passes, bridges and fords of rivers, the better to succeed in his wicked designs, namely, the usurpation of the government. Secondly, He has imposed intolerable taxes on the subjects of the realm, pretending they were for the carrying on the war against the enemy, but giving from their amount large sums to the ill-wishers to the kingdom, to induce them to become his allies, and support him in his attempt to seize the crown. “Thus it appears that I have proved the duke of Orleans guilty of high treason in the fourth degree. There are beside many other facts more wicked and criminal than I have stated; but my lord of Burgundy has reserved them with others, to bring forward, if it be necessary, more strongly to convict the duke of Orleans of having had the design of coinpassing the king's death, and the deaths of his royal family, that he might obtain the crown. “Now, if my hearers will unite my minor with my major, it will clearly follow, that my lord of Burgundy is not deserving of any blame whatever for what has happened to the criminal duke of Orleans; nor ought the king our lord to be dissatisfied with him, but, on the contrary, he should be pleased with what he had done, and requite him for it in three ways, -namely, in love, honour, and riches, after the example of the rewards given to my lord the archangel St. Michael, and to the valiant man Phineas, which I have already mentioned in my major. According to my plain understanding, I think our lord and king ought
to declare his attachment to my aforesaid lord of Burgundy, and publish his good fame both within and without the kingdom, by his letters patent, in the manner of epistles or otherwise; and God grant it may be so done, “Quiest benedictus in secula seculorum. Amen •.” After master John Petit had finished his harangue, he requested of the duke of Burgundy that he would vouch for all he had said, which the duke granted, and avowed the whole of what master John Petit had laid to the charge of the late duke of Orleans, in the presence of the dauphin, who represented the person of the king, and all the other princes and lords before particularised. The orator, after this, declared that the duke of Burgundy had reserved some charges of a deeper nature to lay before the king personally, when a proper occasion should offer. The assembly now broke up, and the princes and lords retired to their different hotels. The duke of Iłurgundy was escorted to his hôtel d'Artois by a large body of men-at-arms and archers. There were great murmurings in Paris among all ranks, for the assembly had been open to all, respecting the charges made against the late duke of Orleans, and various were the opinions concerning them. Those attached to the Orleans party declared they were all false, whilst the Burgundians maintained the contrary. Shortly afterward, queen Isabella of France, apprehensive of consequences to herself and children, set out from Paris with her son the duke of Aquitaine and the others, accompanied by Louis duke of Bavaria, her brother, and fixed her residence in the castle of Melun. The . king, who had been very ill of his disorder for some time, now recovered : the duke of Burgundy waited on him, and was not only reconciled but obtained letters sealed with the king's seal and signed with his own hand, by which he was pardoned for wh o happened to the duke of Orleans, to the astonishment of many great lord en, }. but at this moment it could not be otherwise. 7. &

CIIAPTER XL.-Tille KING OF Flt.* NCE SENDS A SOLEMN reys BASSY TO ANSWER Tiley RECEIVE.-The POPE ExCOMMUNICATES the king AND HIS Albii ERENTS.

About this period, some persons came to the king and the lords then at Paris, to inform them, that the pope and his rival would neither of them resign the popedom, as they had promised in the city of Savona, -—but by various deceitful means kept up the schism that had so long hurt the true interests of the church. The king, in consequence, wrote letters to the pope, and sent them by Jean de Château-morant and Jean de Coursen, knights, his ambassadors, to declare, that if peace were not firmly established throughout the Christian church by Ascension-day next ensuing, he himself and the clergy, nobles and people of his realm and of Dauphiny, would no longer obey him or his adversary. Pope Benedict was not well pleased with the contents of these letters, nor with the embassy, although he dissembled with the ambassadors. He made them a short answer, saying he would speedily reply to the letters they had brought, after which they took leave of him and returned to Paris, to make the king and council acquainted with all that had passed. It was not long before a messenger from the pope arrived at Paris, who went to the hôtel de St. Pol, and, understanding the king was in his oratory at the commencement of the mass, proceeded thither, and presenting the king with an apostolical letter, instantly departed.

When mass was over, the king caused the letter to be opened, and deliberately read, by which he learnt that he himself and all his subjects were excommunicated. Search was instantly made in Paris after the person who had brought this excommunication, but in vain, for he had quitted the city as secretly and suddenly as he could. The king and his

* This is one of the most extraordinary pieces of special pleading on record. Its effect was most mischievous, and as we shall see hereafter, the duke of Burgundy, “Jean sans peur,” himself fell a victim to the murderous creed broached by his own advocate. Jean Petit was undoubtedly a man of considerable attainments, and in his capacity of

WOL. 1.

professor of theology in the university of Paris, he had obtained great reputation. His conduct on this occasion was reprobated by all his fellow collegians; and notwithstanding all the support of the duke of Burgundy, he could not endure the reproaches heaped upon him, but retuing to Hesdin, died there in 14 ll.—Ed.

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council, noticing the manner and form of this act, in compliance with the exhortations of the university of Paris, the greater part of his council, and the princes of the blood, who were all much angered with the pope, he withdrew himself from his obedience to the holy see.

Tiie A POSTOLICAL LETTER RECEIVED BY THE KING.

“BENED1ct, bishop and servant to the servants of God, to his very dear son in Jesus. Christ, Charles king of France, sends health and apostolical benediction. “Would to God, very dear son, that thou knewest the love and affection we bear to thy noble and potent person, and didst understand the purity of our mind, thou wouldest then be sensible of the great joy we feel in thy prosperity, and of our grief at any tribulations that befal thee. If of this thou hadst knowledge, thou wouldest not listen to those detractors, who by false tales endeavour to set thy heart against us, but love us, as a son should love a father, and then the disturbances in thy kingdom, raised up by thy persecutions against our holy church, would cease. Thou knowest well, glorious prince, and hast also heard from public report, how constantly and diligently we have laboured to restore union to the church; and the advances we lave made, in order to obtain peace, towards those who have foolishly encouraged the unfortunate schism, by claiming the right of enjoying the holy see, and more particularly toward Angelo Corrario, who calls himself Gregory, and is at present the adversary to the church. He, however, refuses to perform the promises he had made in various places to resign his pretensions, and prolongs the division in the holy church under frivolous and false pretences. It is, however, notorious, and cannot be denied, that it has not been owing to any fault in us that peace has not been given to the church, and all cause for schisin annihilated. “Notwithstanding this, there are some, we hear, who are very busy in their endeavours to defame us to thee, and to lessen, inasmuch as they can, the purity of our good fame. Others, we learn, are weakening thy devotion, and that of the princes of thy blood, by unjustly blaming us, and charging us most falsely with want of diligence in re-establishing the union of the holy church. In truth, such persons should be answered by stating the real facts, which would destroy their fictions and falsehoods; and we believe that they have been the cause why we have not received anything in our treasury from thy kingdom for the space of two years, an edict having been issued from thy court, which has deprived us of our rights, and we are no longer obeyed in thy realm. We look, however, for consolation and assistance from thee; for thy predecessors, in times past, have laboured to destroy the schisms and errors in the church, and to preserve peace and union. But some in thy kingdom have lately rebelled against the holy see, by appealing from us, against the constitutions of the canon,-and they have been permitted to spread abroad divers errors, contrary to the purity of true religion. “In addition to what we have stated, we have been much hurt and affected by the conduct of thy ambassadors in this town, and in our presence. Our very dear sons Jean de Château. Morant and Jean de Coursen, noble men and thy ambassadors, have come to us from thee, and brought us letters sealed with thy seal, by which thou makest known to us, that if by the feast of Ascension next coming, union be not established throughout our holy church, and one pope or pastor of that church be elected, thyself, the clergy, nobles and people of thy realm, and of the duchy of Guienne, will observe a strict neutrality, and will not pay obedience to either of the popes, nor wilt thou suffer thy subjects to pay any attention to our mandates. Thou mayest consider, very dear son, if we had not cause for grief at heart, on reading these harsh expressions. They are hittle proofs of that love a child owes a father, and have been followed by serious consequences; for when thou and the princes of thy blood make use of such expressions, others may carry their meaning to a farther extent, and may include thee in the perdition that may befal them. Thy good renown has been also wounded by the sin thou hast committed in wishing to set bounds to divine mercy. The union thou thinkest to obtain is sinful, and a perseverance in schism: for our adversary and his followers, swollen up with pride, will not bend nor incline to peace, but will acquire greater obstinacy from the hopes thy conduct will have given them, that we shall be